I just met with my National Security Council as part of our regular
effort to review and intensify our campaign to destroy the terrorist
group ISIL. Our meeting was planned before the terrible attack in
Orlando. But obviously that tragedy -- the awful loss of life -- shaped
much of our work today. In all of our efforts, foremost in our minds is
the loss and the grief of the people of Orlando -- those who died, those
who are still recovering, the families who have seen their loved ones
harmed, the friends of ours who are lesbian and gay and bisexual and
transgender who were targeted. I want to remind them that they are not
alone. The American people, and our allies and friends all over the
world, stand with you and are thinking about you, and are praying for
you.

As Director Comey has said, we currently do not have any information to
indicate that a foreign terrorist group directed the attack in Orlando.
It is increasingly clear, however, that the killer took in extremist
information and propaganda over the Internet. He appears to have been
an angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized. As we
know all too well, terrorist groups like ISIL have called on people
around the world and here in the United States to attack innocent
civilians. Their propaganda, their videos, their postings are pervasive
and more easily accessible than we want. This individual appears to
have absorbed some of that. And during his killing spree, the shooter
in Orlando pledged allegiance to ISIL.

As Iíve said before, these lone actors or small cells of terrorists are
very hard to detect and very hard to prevent. But across our
government, at every level -- federal, state and local, military and
civilian -- we are doing everything in our power to stop these kinds of
attacks. We work to succeed a hundred percent of the time. An
attacker, as we saw in Orlando, only has to succeed once. Our
extraordinary personnel -- our intelligence, our military, our homeland
security, our law enforcement -- have prevented many attacks and saved
many lives. And we can never thank them enough. But we are all sobered
by the fact that, despite the extraordinary hard work, something like
Orlando can occur.

In our meeting today, Director Comey updated us on the investigation in
Orlando. Secretary Johnson reviewed the measures we continue to take on
behalf of our homeland security. Secretary Carter and Chairman Dunford
reviewed the military campaign against ISIL. And I want to thank
Secretary Lew and his team here at Treasury for hosting us and for their
tireless efforts to cut off the money that ISIL relies on to fund its
terror network.

At the outset, I want to reiterate our objective in this fight. Our
mission is to destroy ISIL. Since I last updated the American people on
our campaign two months ago, weíve seen that this continues to be a
difficult fight -- but we are making significant progress. Over the
past two months, Iíve authorized a series of steps to ratchet up our
fight against ISIL: additional U.S. personnel, including Special Forces,
in Syria to assist local forces battling ISIL there; additional advisors
to work more closely with Iraqi security forces, and additional assets,
including attack helicopters; and additional support for local forces in
northern Iraq. Our aircraft continue to launch from the USS Harry
Truman, now in the Mediterranean. Our B-52 bombers are hitting ISIL
with precision strikes. Targets are being identified and hit even more
quickly -- so far, 13,000 airstrikes. This campaign at this stage is
firing on all cylinders.

And as a result, ISIL is under more pressure than ever before. ISIL
continues to lose key leaders. This includes Salman Abd Shahib, a
senior military leader in Mosul; Abu Saíad al-Sudani, who plotted
external attacks; Shakir Wahayb, ISILís military leader in Iraqís Anbar
province; and Maher al-Bilawi, the top ISIL commander in Fallujah. So
far, weíve taken out more than 120 top ISIL leaders and commanders. And
our message is clear: If you target America and our allies, you will
not be safe. You will never be safe.

ISIL continues to lose ground in Iraq. In the past two months, local
forces in Iraq, with coalition support, have liberated the western town
of Rutbah and have also pushed up the Euphrates River Valley, liberating
the strategic town of Hit and breaking the ISIL siege of Haditha. Iraqi
forces have surrounded Fallujah and begun to move into the city.
Meanwhile, in the north, Iraqi forces continue to push up the Tigris
River Valley, making gains around Makhmour, and now preparing to tighten
the noose around ISIL in Mosul. All told, ISIL has now lost nearly half
of the populated territory that it once controlled in Iraq -- and it
will lose more.

ISIL continues to lose ground in Syria as well. Assisted by our Special
Operations Forces, a coalition of local forces is now pressuring the key
town of Manbij, which means the noose is tightening around ISIL in Raqqa
as well. In short, our coalition continues to be on offense. ISIL is
on defense. And itís now been a full year since ISIL has been able to
mount a major successful offensive operation in either Syria or Iraq.

As ISIL continues to lose territory, it also continues to lose the money
that is its lifeblood. As a result of our strikes against its oil
infrastructure and supply lines, we believe that weíve cut ISILís
revenue from oil by millions of dollars per month. In destroying the
storage sites where they keep their cash, weíve deprived ISIL of many
millions more.

Thanks to the great work of Secretary Lew and many others here today --
and working with nations and financial institutions around the world --
ISIL is now effectively cut off from the international financial
system. Cutting off ISILís money may not be as dramatic as military
strikes, but it is critically important. And weíre seeing the results.
ISILís cash reserves are down. It has had to cut salaries for its
fighters. Itís resorting to more extortion of those trapped in its
grip. And by ISILís own admission, some of its own leaders have been
caught stealing cash and gold. Once again, ISILís true nature has been
revealed: These are not religious warriors, they are thugs and they are
thieves.

In continuing to push on this front, I want to mention that it is
critical for our friends in the Senate to confirm Adam Szubin, my
nominee for Under Secretary of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
Adam has served in Democratic and Republican administrations. Everyone
agrees heís eminently qualified. He has been working on these kinds of
issues for years. Itís now been more than a year since I nominated him
-- more than 420 days -- and he still has not been given a full vote.
There is no good reason for it. It is inexcusable. So itís time for
the Senate to do its job, put our national security first, and have a
vote on Adam Szubin that can lead our financial fight against ISIL and
help keep our country safe.

ISILís ranks are shrinking as well. Their morale is sinking. As one
defender -- as one defector said, ISIL ďis not bringing Islam to the
world, and people need to know that.Ē Thanks to international efforts,
the flow of foreign fighters -- including from America to Syria and Iraq
-- has plummeted. In fact, our intelligence community now assesses that
the ranks of ISIL fighters has been reduced to the lowest levels in more
than two and half years.

Even as we continue to destroy ISIL militarily, weíre addressing the
larger forces that have allowed these terrorists to gain traction in
parts of the world. With regard to Iraq, this means helping Iraqis
stabilize liberated communities and promote inclusive governance so ISIL
cannot return.

With regard to Syria, it means our continued support for the fragile
cessation of hostilities there. The cessation of hostilities has not
stopped all or even most of the hardship on the Syrian people, the
hardship on civilians. And the Assad regime has been the principal
culprit in violating the cessation of hostilities. ISIL and al Nusra,
which is al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, also continue to terrorize
Syrians. But as fragile and incomplete as the cessation is, it has
saved lives and it has allowed the delivery of some lifesaving aid to
Syrians who are in desperate need. And as difficult as it is, we will
continue to push for a political process that can end the civil war and
result in a transition away from Assad.

Beyond Syria and Libya -- beyond Syria and Iraq, ISIL is also losing
ground in Libya. Forces of the Libyan unity government are going after
ISIL in their stronghold in Sirte. And weíll continue to assist the new
Libyan government as it works to secure its country.

Lastly, here at home, if we really want to help law enforcement protect
Americans from homegrown extremists, the kind of tragedies that occurred
at San Bernardino and that now have occurred in Orlando, there is a
meaningful way to do that. We have to make it harder for people who
want to kill Americans to get their hands on weapons of war that let
them kill dozens of innocents. It is absolutely true we cannot prevent
every tragedy. But we know that, consistent with the Second Amendment,
there are common-sense steps that could reduce gun violence and could
reduce the lethality of somebody who intends to do other people harm.
We should give ATF the resources they need to enforce the gun laws that
we already have. People with possible ties to terrorism who aren't
allowed on a plane shouldn't be allowed to buy a gun.

Enough talking about being tough on terrorism. Actually be tough on
terrorism, and stop making it easy as possible for terrorists to buy
assault weapons. Reinstate the assault weapons ban. Make it harder for
terrorists to use these weapons to kill us. Otherwise, despite
extraordinary efforts across our government by local law enforcement, by
our intelligence agencies, by our military, despite all the sacrifices
that folks make, these kinds of events are going to keep on happening.
And the weapons are only going to get more powerful.

And let me make a final point. For a while now, the main contribution
of some of my friends on the other side of the aisle have made in the
fight against ISIL is to criticize this administration and me for not
using the phrase ďradical Islam.Ē Thatís the key, they tell us -- we
canít beat ISIL unless we call them ďradical Islamists.Ē What exactly
would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change? Would
it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans? Would it bring
in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this?
The answer is none of the above. Calling a threat by a different name
does not make it go away. This is a political distraction. Since
before I was President, Iíve been clear about how extremist groups have
perverted Islam to justify terrorism. As President, I have repeatedly
called on our Muslim friends and allies at home and around the world to
work with us to reject this twisted interpretation of one of the worldís
great religions.

There has not been a moment in my seven and a half years as President
where we have not been able to pursue a strategy because we didnít use
the label "radical Islam." Not once has an advisor of mine said, man,
if we really use that phrase, we're going to turn this whole thing
around. Not once. So if someone seriously thinks that we donít know
who we're fighting, if there's anyone out there who thinks we're
confused about who our enemies are, that would come as a surprise to the
thousands of terrorists who we've taken off the battlefield.

If the implication is that those of us up here and the thousands of
people around the country and around the world who are working to defeat
ISIL aren't taking the fight seriously, that would come as a surprise to
those who have spent these last seven and a half years dismantling al
Qaeda in the FATA, for example -- including the men and women in uniform
who put their lives at risk and the Special Forces that I ordered to get
bin Laden and are now on the ground in Iraq and in Syria. They know
full well who the enemy is. So do the intelligence and law enforcement
officers who spend countless hours disrupting plots and protecting all
Americans, including politicians who tweet and appear on cable news
shows. They know who the nature of the enemy is.

So thereís no magic to the phrase ďradical Islam.Ē Itís a political
talking point; it's not a strategy. And the reason I am careful about
how I describe this threat has nothing to do with political correctness
and everything to do with actually defeating extremism. Groups like
ISIL and al Qaeda want to make this war a war between Islam and America,
or between Islam and the West. They want to claim that they are the
true leaders of over a billion Muslims around the world who reject their
crazy notions. They want us to validate them by implying that they
speak for those billion-plus people; that they speak for Islam. Thatís
their propaganda. That's how they recruit. And if we fall into the
trap of painting all Muslims with a broad brush and imply that we are at
war with an entire religion -- then weíre doing the terrorists' work for
them.

Now, up until this point, this argument about labels has mostly just
been partisan rhetoric. And, sadly, we've all become accustomed to that
kind of partisanship, even when it involves the fight against these
extremist groups. And that kind of yapping has not prevented folks
across government from doing their jobs, from sacrificing and working
really hard to protect the American people.

But we are now seeing how dangerous this kind of mindset and this kind
of thinking can be. We're starting to see where this kind of rhetoric
and loose talk and sloppiness about who exactly we're fighting, where
this can lead us. We now have proposals from the presumptive Republican
nominee for President of the United States to bar all Muslims from
emigrating to America. We hear language that singles out immigrants and
suggests that entire religious communities are complicit in violence.
Where does this stop? The Orlando killer, one of the San Bernardino
killers, the Fort Hood killer -- they were all U.S. citizens.

Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we
going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to
start discriminating against them because of their faith? Weíve heard
these suggestions during the course of this campaign. Do Republican
officials actually agree with this? Because that's not the America we
want. It doesn't reflect our democratic ideals. It wonít make us more
safe; it will make us less safe -- fueling ISILís notion that the West
hates Muslims, making young Muslims in this country and around the world
feel like no matter what they do, they're going to be under suspicion
and under attack. It makes Muslim Americans feel like they're
government is betraying them. It betrays the very values America stands
for.

We've gone through moments in our history before when we acted out of
fear -- and we came to regret it. We've seen our government mistreat
our fellow citizens. And it has been a shameful part of our history.

This is a country founded on basic freedoms, including freedom of
religion. We don't have religious tests here. Our Founders, our
Constitution, our Bill of Rights are clear about that. And if we ever
abandon those values, we would not only make it a lot easier to
radicalize people here and around the world, but we would have betrayed
the very things we are trying to protect -- the pluralism and the
openness, our rule of law, our civil liberties -- the very things that
make this country great; the very things that make us exceptional. And
then the terrorists would have won. And we cannot let that happen. I
will not let that happen.

Two weeks ago, I was at the commencement ceremony at the Air Force
Academy. And it could not have been more inspiring to see these young
people stepping up, dedicated to serve and protect this country. And
part of what was inspiring was the incredible diversity of these
cadets. We saw cadets, who are straight, applauding classmates who were
openly gay. We saw cadets, born here in America, applauding classmates
who are immigrants and love this country so much they decided they
wanted to be part of our armed forces. We saw cadets and families of
all religions applaud cadets who are proud, patriotic Muslim Americans
serving their country in uniform, ready to lay their lives on the line
to protect you and to protect me. We saw male cadets applauding for
female classmates, who can now serve in combat positions. Thatís the
American military. Thatís America -- one team, one nation. Those are
the values that ISIL is trying to destroy, and we shouldnít help them do
it.

Our diversity and our respect for one another, our drawing on the
talents of everybody in this country, our making sure that we are
treating everybody fairly -- that weíre not judging people on the basis
of what faith they are or what race they are, or what ethnicity they
are, or what their sexual orientation is -- thatís what makes this
country great. Thatís the spirit we see in Orlando. Thatís the unity
and resolve that will allow us to defeat ISIL. Thatís what will
preserve our values and our ideals that define us as Americans. Thatís
how weíre going to defend this nation, and thatís how weíre going to
defend our way of life.